Our Jatiya Sangsad (National Parliament of Bangladesh) completes its 50 years today (Friday). The Golden Jubilee of JS will be celebrated today in a befitting manner.
Marking the Golden Jubilee of JS President Abdul Hamid convened the session exercising the power bestowed upon him by Article 72 (1) of the Constitution. So, the 11th JS went into 22nd session on Thursday.
This is the special session of the JS to mark Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad’s 50th anniversary. The JS under the leadership of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman started its journey on April 7, 1973.
Bangabandhu was the Leader of the first Jatiya Sangsad. The first session of the Jatiya Sangsad was held at the then Sangsad Bhaban at Tejgaon on April 7. The general election of 300 seats of the Jatiya Sangsad was held on March 7, 1973. However, after the assassination of Bangabandhu on August 15 in 1975 and four national leaders on November 3 in the same year, Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a political party founded by gen Ziaur Rahman became the biggest beneficiary.
The JS under the leadership
of the Father of the Nation
Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman started
its journey on April 7, 1973
The anti-liberation clique led by military dictator Zia had made the nation leaderless to jeopardise the independence and sovereignty of the country. Dictator Zia made the JS dysfunctional completely.
Following the darkest chapter in independent Bangladesh, the assassination of Bangabandhu and most of his family members on August 15, 1975, the indemnity ordinance was introduced on September 26 in the same year, paving the path for Khondaker Mostaq Ahmad to take over with the help of Bangabandhu's killers. According to the indemnity ordinance, no one involved in Bangabandhu’s murder or its conspiracy could be tried in lower court, Supreme Court, or court martial.
Thus military dictator Ziaur Rahman turned the ordinance into an act, denying people’s basic rights to get justice. He (Zia) had initiated the culture of disappearance and killings in absence of justice and democracy in the country. Latter, military dictator HM Ershad and Begum Khaleda Zia also followed the Zia’s path. Therefore, all spheres of society were ruined while state organisations were destroyed. Besides, all the constitutional bodies, including the Election Commission, had become dysfunctional due to politicisation and nepotism.
There is no alternative but to make the JS functional for the sake of growth of democracy. A parliamentary democracy functions when an elected government runs the country. Therefore, an unelected government should never return in the country. We all have to remain alert and vigilant against those who are out for such a government by creating anarchy.
